The significance of the TV series, The Legend of Heroes (2024), launched to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Louis Cha, the late author of the martial arts classic, should not be lost on even casual viewers. The first 30 episodes, entitled “Hot Blooded” (perhaps more appropriately, “Blood of Iron and Love of Country”), feature Cisha and Bao Shang’en, respectively, as the protagonists, Guo Jing and Huang Rong, a match made in heaven. For one thing, the two young leads, both in their 20s, are much more age-appropriate than their counterparts in all the previous adaptions in the Mainland. For another thing, unlike young Mainland TV actors/actresses these days, who tend to come across as cardboard cutouts looking more like internet celebs, Bao and Cisha amply prove they have the chops for the demanding roles: the former with the lithe body and agility of a dancer and the latter with his impressive horse-riding skills.

Directed by Yang Lei, the critically-acclaimed director of the 2023 sci-fi TV series, Three-Body, these first 30 episodes may follow closely the original book by Louis Cha but come as a pleasant surprise. They mark an obvious departure from run-of-the-mill Mainland TV shows more interested in serving up eye candy than telling stories of flesh and blood. Instead of being slavishly “faithful” to the original story, even the relatively minor characters in this series are fleshed out with more backstory. Benefiting from Cha’s ever-popular classic featuring colourful characters who have virtually become household names among Chinese communities worldwide, this show is further blessed with the added advantage of a bigger budget and state-of-the-art production technology. In the deft hands of the director, a snappy pace of storytelling is mixed with convincing special effects to make watching this series a more engaging and immersive experience. Hence this innovative costume drama not just showcases exquisite costume design and lavish set pieces, not least a near-photorealistic Peach Blossom Island, home to Huang Rong and her father, Huang Yaoshi, one of the top five martial artists in the story. Towards the end of the series, a scene showing water droplets suspended in mid-air in slow motion even has almost a sci-fi feel to it!

What’s more, the innovative use of backstory is not just meant to give more screen time to less major characters. It actually spins the subsequent four new upcoming chapters, comprising another 30 episodes, not found in the original book. Taking this familiar and well-loved story on a delightfully unexpected journey into the unknown, the creative team of this new series boldly goes where no man has gone before. Now that the plot thickens, can’t wait to be pleasantly surprised some more.